Children, Their Vision and Its Importance to Learning

One in 4 children have a vision problem. Since 80% of what a child learns is through their eyes, children with poor vision can have difficulty learning or have to work extra hard to overcome their poor vision. Children lack the experience before the age of 9 or 10 to know what normal vision is. Many children are misdiagnosed as learning disabled when in fact, they have an easily correctable vision disorder. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that children have a complete eye examination by an optometrist before the age of 3 years and then every year thereafter. Children as young as 6 months of age can be examined. School vision screenings should never take the place of a complete eye health and vision exam by a trained optometrist. Parents that do not have their children’s eyes tested may cause the child to develop a life-long visual disability known as lazy eye or amblyopia.

What you should know after your child’s eye exam:

Are my child’s eyes healthy?

Can my child see well at all distances, see well without eyestrain?

Does my child see colors normally?

Does my child have normal binocular vision and depth perception?

Here are some symptoms that may indicate a child is having vision problems: